By Leslie Lindsay

When the book, The Help (Kathryn Stockett, Berkeley, 2009) first came out a couple of years ago, I’ll admit–I didn’t really have much interest in reading it.  I was in the midst of running around like a chicken-with-her-head cut off raising two little girls then 2 and 4 years old.  Like I had time to read.  Pfff…it was more like me who needed the help.

But now I am in the middle of the book.  (Well, not exactly the middle).  And I love it!!  I can’t get enough.  It makes me want to read all day.  (Of course, duty calls and I can’t).  But I am utterly amazed at how author Kathryn Stockett can weave together the lives and stories of these southern women.  It makes you feel like you’re right there alongside of them like a fly on the wall.  Not only does the author bring you right into the colorful world of Aibileen, Hilly, Celia, Millie…she breathes life into their voices.  Her point-of-view is absolutely to die for; those woman and their words coming alive right there on the page is sheer magic.

I giggle and roll my eyes and want to jump right into that book and ring me some necks.  I feel sympathy and pity–and not exactly for the characters you’d expect.  And it sort of makes me want to whip up some comfort food:  mashed potatoes, fried okra and grits with tons of butter and salt(which I really did eat as a child and loved–I grew up in Springfield, MO–not exactly the south, but pretty close!)

Finishing the book in record time is my goal.  I want to see the movie.  But before I go, I must read it. But the book is 544 pages long!   Books, in my opinion, are so much better than the movies.  Although I have heard wonderful things about this movie.

A friend of mine has the book from the library.  She says her copy is due Saturday and there are 160 people in line to get that book!  So, maybe we can make it a race–read it all by Saturday!  I don’t know….I love to read, but I don’t know if I can be that ambitious….

And that is what is in my brain today, Thursday August 11th 2011. 

For more information on The Help, see:

• Kathryn Stockett’s home page, http://www.kathrynstockett.com/
• Kathryn Stockett’s “The Help” turned down 60 times before becoming a bestseller http://shine.yahoo.com/event/poweryourfuture/kathryn-stocketts-the-help-turned-down-60-times-before-becoming-a-best-seller-2523496/